Charles Hubert Hastings Parry: Difference between revisions

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*''I sing the Birth'' - in preparation.
*''I sing the Birth'' - in preparation.
*[[I Was Glad When They Said Unto Me (Charles Hubert Hastings Parry)|<i>I Was Glad When They Said Unto Me</i>]]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(&nbsp;[http://wso.williams.edu/cpdl/sheet/par-iwas.pdf {{pdf}}]&nbsp;[http://wso.williams.edu/cpdl/sound/par-iwas.mid {{mid}}]&nbsp;[http://wso.williams.edu/cpdl/source/par-iwas.sib SIBELIUS 4]&nbsp;)
*[[I Was Glad When They Said Unto Me (Charles Hubert Hastings Parry)|<i>I Was Glad When They Said Unto Me</i>]]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(&nbsp;[http://wso.williams.edu/cpdl/sheet/par-iwas.pdf {{pdf}}]&nbsp;[http://wso.williams.edu/cpdl/sound/par-iwas.mid {{mid}}]&nbsp;[http://wso.williams.edu/cpdl/source/par-iwas.sib SIBELIUS 2]&nbsp;)
*''If thou would'st ease thine heart''
*''If thou would'st ease thine heart''
*''Lay a garland on my hearse''
*''Lay a garland on my hearse''

Revision as of 08:05, 18 February 2008

Life

Born: 27 February 1848

Died: 7 October 1918

Biography

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Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (February 27, 1848 – October 7, 1918) was an English composer, probably best known for his setting of William Blake's poem, Jerusalem. Born in Bournemouth, Hampshire, and brought up at Highnam Court, Gloucestershire, he was the second son of Thomas Gambier Parry, of Highnam Court, Gloucester - an amateur artist, and He was educated at Malvern, Twyford, near Winchester, Eton (from 1861), and Exeter College, Oxford. While still at Eton he wrote music, two anthems being published in 1865; a service in D was dedicated to Sir John Stainer. He took the degree of Mus.B. at Oxford at the age of eighteen, and that of B.A. in 1870; he then left Oxford for London, where in the following year he entered Lloyds, abandoning business for art soon afterwards.

He studied successively with H. H. Pierson (at Stuttgart), Sterndale Bennett and Macfarren; but the most important part of his artistic development was due to pianist Edward Dannreuther in London. Among the larger works of this early period must be mentioned an overture, Guillem de Cabestanh (Crystal Palace, 1879), a pianoforte concerto in F sharp minor, played by Dannreuther at the Crystal Palace and Richter concerts in 1880, and his first choral work, the Scenes from Prometheus Unbound, produced at the Gloucester Festival, 1880. These, like a symphony in G given at the Birmingham Festival of 1882, seemed strange even to educated hearers, who were confused by the intricacy of treatment. It was not until his setting of Shirleys ode, Tile Glories of our Blood and State, was brought out at Gloucester, 1883, and the Partila for violin and pianoforte was published about the same time, that Parrys importance came to be realized.

His first major works appeared in 1880: a piano concerto and a choral setting of scenes from Shelley's Prometheus Unbound. The first performance of the latter has often been held to mark the start of a "renaissance" in English classical music. Parry scored a greater contemporary success, however, with the ode Blest Pair of Sirens (1887) which established him as the leading English choral composer of his day. Among the most successful of a long series of similar works were the Ode on Saint Cecilia's Day (1889), the oratorios Judith (1888) and Job (1892), the psalm-setting De Profundis (1891) and The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1905). His orchestral works from this period include four symphonies, the Overture to an Unwritten Tragedy (1893) and the Elegy for Brahms (1897). Parry joined the staff of the Royal College of Music in 1884 and was appointed its director in 1894, a post he held until his death. In 1900 he succeeded John Stainer as professor of music at Oxford University. His later music includes a series of six "ethical cantatas", experimental works in which he hoped to supersede the traditional oratorio and cantata forms. They were generally unsuccessful with the public, though Elgar admired The Vision of Life (1907) and The Soul's Ransom (1906) has had several modern performances. He resigned his Oxford appointment on doctor's advice in 1908 and in the last decade of his life produced some of his finest works, including the Symphonic Fantasia '1912' (also called Symphony No. 5), the Ode on the Nativity (1912), Jerusalem (1916) and the Songs of Farewell (1916 –1918).

Influenced as a composer principally by Bach and Brahms, Parry evolved a powerful diatonic style which itself greatly influenced future English composers such as Elgar and Vaughan Williams. His own full development as a composer was almost certainly hampered by the immense amount of work he took on, but his energy and charisma, not to mention his abilities as a teacher and administrator, helped establish art music at the centre of English cultural life. He collaborated with the poet Robert Bridges, and was responsible for many books on music, including The Evolution of the Art of Music (1896), the third volume of the Oxford History of Music (1907) and a study of Bach (1909).

His six "Songs of Farewell" are the last works in his repertoire, and seem to be a reflection of his resignation to his terminal illness. The poignant words of Thomas Campion's poem "Never weather-beaten sail" which entreats us:

Than my wearied sprite now longs to fly out of my troubled breast:
O come quickly, sweetest Lord, and take my soul to rest.

which seems a fitting epithet to one of England's greatest choral composers.


View the Wikipedia article on Charles Hubert Hastings Parry.

List of choral works

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  • A Garland of Shakesperian and Other Old - Fashioned Songs, Opus 21 (pub. 1873 )
2. Spring Song, A / It was a lover and his lass; with a hey and a ho, and a hey nonino!
  • And all the earth shall own him
  • And did those feet in ancient time, Op. 208
  • Blest pair of Sirens
  • Brown and furry
  • Crabbed Age and Youth / cannot live together: Youth is full of pleasance (Shakespeare)
  • Dream - pedlary
  • Eight four-part songs (1898)
1. You gentle nymphs   ( Icon_pdf.gif Icon_snd.gif Sibelius4 )  
  • English Lyrics - [ 1881 - 1920 ] - 74 songs in total - Published in 12 sets
EL Set 1 ( Pub 1881-83 )
1. My True Love Hath My Heart, and I have his, by just exchange, one to the other given (Sidney) English Lyrics Set I No 1
2. Good Night! ah! no; the hour is ill that severs those it should unite (Shelly) *
3. Where Shall The Lover Rest, whom the fates sever from his ture maiden’s breast (Scott)
4. Willow, Willow / The poor soul sat sighing by a sycamore tree, sing all a green willow (Shakespeare)
EL Set 2 ( Pub 1886-87 )
1. O mistress mine - English Lyrics Set II No 1
2. Take, O take those lips away (Shakespeare) English Lyrics Set II No 2
3. No longer mourn for me - (Shakespeare) English Lyrics Set II No 3
4. Blow, blow, thou winter wind
5. When icicles hang by the wall
EL Set 3 ( pub 1895 )
1. To Lucasta, on going to the wars (Lovelace) English Lyrics Set III No 1
2. If Thou Would’st Ease Thine Heart of love and all its smart, then sleep, dear, sleep (Beddoes) English Lyrics Set III No 2
3. To Althea, from prison (Lovelace) English Lyrics Set III No 3
4. Why so pale and wan? (Suckling) English Lyrics Set III No 4
5. Through the Ivory Gate (Sturgis) English Lyrics Set III No 5
EL Set 4 ( pub 1895 )
1. Thine eyes still shined for me (Emerson) English Lyrics Set IV No 1
2. When lovers meet again
3. When we two parted
4. Weep you no more, sad fountains (anonymous) English Lyrics Set IV No 4
5. There Be None Of Beauty’s Daughters with a magic like thee; and like music on the waters is thy sweet voice to me (Keats) English Lyrics Set IV No 5
6. Bright Star! would I were stedfast as thou art - not in lone splendour hung aloft the night English Lyrics Set IV No 4
EL Set 5 ( pub 1902 )
1. Stray Nymph Of Dian, A / I went ahunting with Queen Dian’s maids; our sandals, bright with dew, swept through the grass
2. Proud Maisie is in the wood (Scott) English Lyrics Set V No 2
4. Lay a garland on my hearse (Beaumont & Fletcher) English Lyrics Set V No 4
7. Welsh Lullaby, A / Sleep, sleep, all nature now is steeping her sons in sleep (Hughes)
EL Set 6 ( pub 1902 )
1. When comes my Gwen (Mynyddog, trans Jones) English Lyrics Set VI No 1
2. And Yet I Love Her Till I Die / There is a lady sweet and kind, was never face so pleased my mind (anonymous) English Lyrics Set VI No 2
3. Love is a bable (anonymous) English Lyrics Set VI No 3
6. Under the greenwood tree (Shakespeare) English Lyrics Set VI No 6
EL Set 7 ( pub 1907 )
1. On a time the amorous Silvy (anonymous) English Lyrics Set VII No 1
3. Ye little birds that sit and sing (Heywood) English Lyrics Set VII No 3
4. O never say that I was false of heart (Shakespeare) English Lyrics Set VII No 4
5. Julia (Herrick) English Lyrics Set VII No 5
6. Sleep / Beautiful up from the deeps of the solemn sea cometh sweet Sleep (Sturgis) English Lyrics Set VII No 6
EL Set 8 ( pub 1907 )
2. Nightfall In Winter / Cold is the air, the woods are bare and brown; the herd stand in the yard (Mitchell) English Lyrics Set VIII No 2
4. Dirge In Woods / A wind sways the pines, and below not a breath of wild air (Meredith) English Lyrics Set VIII No 4
5. Looking backward
6. Grapes / Come, boy Bacchus, a bunch of grapes - the bunch you dearest treasure (Sturgis) English Lyrics Set VIII No 6
EL Set 9 ( pub 1909 )
5. Armida's Garden / I have been there before thee, O my love! (Shakespeare) Set IX No 5
1. The maiden
EL Set 10 ( pub 1909 )
1. My heart is like a singing bird (Rossetti) - English Lyrics Set IX No 1
5. From a city window
EL Set 11 ( pub 1920 )
2. What part of dread eternity (Parry?) English Lyrics Set XI No 2
3. The Spirit of the Spring (APGraves) English Lyrics Set XI No 3
4. The Blackbird (APGraves) English Lyrics Set XI No 4
5. The Faithful Lover (APGraves) English Lyrics Set XI No 5
7. Why Art Thou Slow, thou rest of trouble, Death, to stop a wretch’s breath (Massinger) English Lyrics Set XI No 7
8. She is my love beyond all thought (APGraves) English Lyrics Set XI No 8
EL Set 12 ( pub 1920 )
2. To Blossoms / Fair pledges of a fruitful tree, why do ye fall so fast? (Herrick) English Lyrics Set XII No 2
3. Rosaline / Like to the clear in highest sphere (Lodge)
Marian * - English Lyrics Set ___ No. __
There * - English Lyrics Set ___ No. __
  • Fear No More The Heat O’ The Sun, nor the furious winter's rages (pub. 1906)
  • Four Sonnets of Shakespeare (pub. 1887)
  1. When In Disgrace With Fortune And Men’s Eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state
  2. Farewell Thou Art Too Dear For My Possessing, and like enough thou know’st thy estimate
  3. Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer’s Day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate
  4. When To The Sessions Of Sweet Silent Thought, I summon up remembrance of things past
1. Intro. Myriad Voiced Queen!: Moderato/Turn, O Return!Allegretto Tranquillo
2. Thee, Fair Poetry Oft Hath Sought: Allegretto Tranquillo
3. The Monstrous Sea: Maestoso Energico
4. Love To Love Calleth: Andante Appassionato
5. Dirge. To Me, To Me, Fair-Hearted Goddess, Come
6. Man, Born Of Desire: Moderato/Rejoice, Ye Dead, Where'er Your Spirits Dwell
7. O Enter With Me The Gates Of Delight: Allegro Vivace
8. Chor: 'Thou, O Queen Of Sinless Grace': Allegro Vivo
  1. Since thou, o fondest
  • She is my love beyond all thought
  1. My Soul, There is a Country   3 editions available
  2. I Know My Soul Hath Power   ( Icon_pdf.gif Icon_snd.gif Sibelius 4 )
  3. Never Weather-Beaten Sail   ( Icon_pdf.gif Icon_snd.gif Sibelius 4 )
  4. There Is An Old Belief   ( Icon_pdf.gif Icon_snd.gif Sibelius 4 )
  5. At The Round Earths Imagined Corners   ( Icon_pdf.gif Icon_snd.gif Sibelius 4 )
  6. Lord, let me know mine end   ( Icon_pdf.gif Icon_snd.gif Sibelius 4 )
  • The North Wind
  • The peacock has a score of eyes
  • The soldier's tent
  • The spirit of spring
  • There be none of beauty's daughters
  • Thine eyes have shined for me
  • To Althea, from prison
  • Three Songs, Op. 12 ( Pub 1872 )
    1. The Poet's Song
    2. More fond than Cushat Dove
  • Weathers
  • When comes my Gwen
  • Why so pale and wan?
  • Welcome, Yule!   ( Icon_pdf.gif Icon_snd.gif SIBELIUS )
  • When Christ was borne of Mary free - In preparation
  • You gently nymphs


Hymns

Tunes

Harmonizations

Hymns (tune, harmony & words)



Click here to search for this composer on CPDL

Publications

Recordings

  • Recording of many of the "English Lyrics" songs: PARRY: ENGLISH LYRICS AND SONGS - Label: Hyperion - Cat: CDA67044 - Date: 12/08/1998 - Distrib: Harmonia Mundi

External links